On her liturgy of December 2nd, Holy Mother Church honors St. Bibiana, a Roman Virgin Martyr (+ 363 AD).
In 313, Emperor Constantine passed the Edict of Milan which made Christianity a "legal" religion and outlawed the persecution of Christians. This relief came shortly after the most severe persecution against Christians, that of Emperors Diocletian and Galerius (303-311 AD). Unfortunately, in 361 Julian "The Apostate" became emperor and he renewed the persecutions against Christians for a few brief years. It was under his reign that St. Bibiana lost her life.
A soldier named Apronianus was made governor of Rome by Julian. On his way to Rome, Apronianus lost an eye. He attributed this evil to the "magic" of Christians and resolved to punish and exterminate them. Christians were accused of magic in those days on account of the wonderful miracles which had been brought about by the saints in those ages.
Bibiana was the daughter of two devout Christians, Flavian and Dafrosa, and she had one sister, Demetria. Flavian was a Roman knight and responsible for an important government post in Rome. Apronianus released the full terror of his fury on the whole family. He began with the father, head of the home. Flavian was stripped of his post, burned in the face with hot irons, and then banished from Rome. He died shortly thereafter from his injuries. His wife, Dafrosa, was placed under house arrest. Following the death of her husband, she was dragged outside the city gates and beheaded. The two sisters were then deprived of all their material goods and left in their own house to die of hunger or "repent." The governor flattered himself with the assurance that the young maidens would abhor their hunger and destitution so much that they would renounce the Christian faith. The two holy sisters however spent the time in intense fasting and prayer.
Five months later, the evil Apronianus lost patience and summoned the sisters to appear before him. Demeteria made a moving confession of her faith and then fell down dead in the presence of the tribunal. The extreme starvation and mortification, coupled with the intensity of her confession, had finally claimed her body.
Bibiana however was placed under the tutelage of a vile pagan woman named Rufina. She was well practiced in the arts of persuasion and torture, and this agent of hell employed all the allurements she could concoct to sway Bibiana. Rebuffed at every effort, she eventually even resorted to torturous blows. Yet Bibiana forged her prayer and faith into her shield and was thus invincible.
Apronianus became enraged at the courage and perseverance of so tender and mild a virgin. How could she actually defy the might of the Roman government? Determined to “win,” he sentenced her to death. The governor had Bibiana tied to a pillar and then whipped with scourges loaded with leaded plummets until she died. St. Bibiana underwent this excruciating torture cheerfully by a magnanimous grace from God. To add greater insult, Apronianus decreed that her body was left to be lying in the streets to be torn to shreds by beast and fowl as carrion. Yet after lying exposed for two days without being harmed by even the most ravenous animals, a holy Roman priest named John was able to procure her body on the third day, administered proper Christian rites, and secretly buried her by candlelight.
A chapel was built over her burial site and attracted the attention of many pilgrims. In 465 AD, Pope St. Simplicius built a church there. Although it has gone a series of decay and restoration, this church still exists today and can be visited by pilgrims in Rome: the Basilica of St. Bibiana. The basilica contains relics of the three female saints from that family: Sts. Bibiana, Demetria and Dafrosa.
Julian the Apostate's terrible reign ended in 363. A few short decades later the Emperor(s) declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Empire (by the Edit of Thessalonica in 380 AD). All citizens of the Empire were encouraged to be Catholic and profess the Nicene Creed, for it emerged victorious from the storms of heresy as the official creed of the whole Empire. A decade after that paganism was legally outlawed. Surely, it was on account of the virtue, prayer and penances of great saints and martyrs, such as St. Bibiana, that this great conversion took place within the mightiest empire the world has ever known.
Her example can serve as a great inspiration to us today under the threat of a glowingly hostile pagan and atheistic state. St Bibiana, ora pro nobis!